Hebrews 4:1

Let us therefore fear The fear to which we are exhorted is not any uncertainty of hope, but solicitude against careless indifference. It is a wholesome fear taught by wisdom (Philippians 2:12).

lest Lit. lest haply.

being left us It is better to omit the word "us," It means "since a promise still remains unrealised." The promise has not been exhausted by any previous fulfilment.

any Rather, "any one." See note on Hebrews 3:12.

of you He cannot say "of us," because he proceeds to describe the case of hardened and defiant apostates.

should seem to come short of it Rather, "should seem to have failed in attaining it." The Greek might also mean "should think that he has come too late for it;" but the writer's object is to stimulate the negligent, not to encourage the despondent. The word "seem" is an instance of the figure called litotes, in which a milder term is designedly used to express one which is much stronger. The author of this Epistle, abounding as he does in passages of uncompromising sternness, would not be likely to use any merely euphuistic phrase. The dignity of his expressions adds to their intensity. For a similar delicate yet forcible use of "seem" see 1 Corinthians 11:16. The verb "to fail" or "come short" occurs in Hebrews 12:15, together with a terrible example of the thing itself in Hebrews 12:17.